DONT

Why Disturb Opponents No ? • “A murderous contract to defend”... • Opening leads, on average, give up almost a trick

Strategy of bidding methods to get into the auction • Getting to game not worth worrying about (opener has lots of points) • Long suits should have bids available, especially majors • Focus should be on two suited hands ◦ Occur frequently ◦ Flexibility of having two choices instead of one ◦ They tend to play well in one of the suits, yet don't contribute much to 1NT defense

There are many conventions to do this: my favorite is DONT • Double to show a one suited hand (usually 6 or more) ◦ Partner required to respond 2C ◦ Doubler passes if 2C is THE suit, otherwise bids THE suit • 2C shows clubs plus a higher suit (ideal is 5-5, often 5-4) • 2D shows diamonds and a higher suit (a major) • 2H shows hearts and spades • 2S shows spades • NOTE: Two ways to show spades! Usually best to bid 2S directly to stifle opponents.

Responses to a DONT • After 2C, ◦ With 3 or more clubs, pass unless you have 3+ cards in each of the other 3 suits ◦ With 2 or fewer clubs, bid 2D to find a better fit ▪ Partner will pass with diamonds as 2nd suit, so need as many or more diamonds ▪ Danger: With a two 2 clubs and a of your own...why is this a problem? ◦ If you bid 2H, you are showing a long heart suit of your own ◦ If you bid 2S, again, you are showing a long spade suit of your own ◦ Raise to 3C is preemptive! • After 2D, ◦ With 3 or more diamonds, pass, unless you have at least 3 in each major ◦ If shape is 5-1-2-5, pass for fear of a red suited misfit ◦ If shape is 4-2-2-5, bid 2H and hope partner has spades ◦ Bidding 2H asks partner to pick between hearts and spades ◦ Bidding 2S says you have a long spade suit • After 2H, ◦ Pass with better hearts, bid 2S with better spades ◦ If equal hearts and spades, bid 2S if it puts NT opener on lead • There is a set of bids to explore game after a DONT overcall, but this is such a rare situation (perhaps 1% of the time), they are not covered here

When should you intervene with a DONT bid? There are two cases: • Direct position ◦ Add up the number of cards in your two longest suits ◦ Subtract the losers in your hand using the Losing Trick Count ◦ If the result is 2 or greater, make the appropriate DONT bid ◦ Examples: ▪ K75, AQ865, K43, 76 ▪ K7532, K8654, 43, 7 ▪ AKJ73, Q82, Q7, K65 ▪ Q76, AK3, AT654, 85

• position ◦ You know your partner has some points favorably located behind the NT opener ◦ So, you can risk a bid with fewer points ◦ If you have a , OR a singleton, OR two doubletons, BID! ▪ Note: This implies a 2 suited hand suitable for DONT ◦ Examples: ▪ Q753, 9, AT5, J8642 ▪ A74, K962, KT3, K98 ◦ Fewer points the better here, likely to lose

Note: Credit to Mel Colchamiro for the guidelines on when to intervene

Considerations: • Vulnerability • Can you set them? On lead?